Friday, October 25, 2013

Corn Bread and Corn Bread Stuffing with Anaheim Chilies and Garlic

It took me a few days to make my Cornbread Stuffing and yet it was very simple to make. I am allergic to corn so I do not have anything corn too often, but corn is better than wheat for me and being that I am very allergic to rice I do not have too many alternatives to make stuffing. This was so good this recipe it was worth taking an antihistamine for. The first step was to make a batch of corn bread. I doubled the recipe and used 1 ½ pans in my stuffing. The other half we had with dinner the day I made it. The cornbread needs to dry for a few days before you make it into stuffing. It is very easy to make as it is just simple casserole bread.

I kept the cubed corn bread on a cookie sheet covered with a clean dish towel for two days before Thanksgiving to help it dry out and get crispy.

Gluten Free Corn Bread

1 cup almond milk

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup cornmeal, preferably medium grind

1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour blend (I like to use a mix by XO Baking Company it is gluten, rice and soy free and works great)

1/4 cup of agave syrup

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten

1/4 cup melted coconut oil (it helps to brown baking in a wonderful way and it is so much healthier)

Preheat oven to 350º

Grease a square baking pan 9 x 9 baking pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, agave, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the milk mixture, eggs and oil until just blended. Pour the batter in to your greased pan.

Bake until golden, and a toothpick comes out clean, which will be about 35 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. For stuffing cut your cornbread into ½ inch cubes and spread it onto a cookie sheet to dry out. Cover the pan with a clean towel. This takes a few days. As far as preparation goes it only took about five minutes to mix the cornbread from scratch. Super easy and simple for something so good.

This is the All purpose flour blend I have been using. So far everything I have made with the mixes for this company have been very good. I think some of them are actually better than baking made with wheat flour as the resulting products have been moist and flavourful. I came across this mix as it does not contain any rice or soy. The main base for the flour mix comes from cassava flour, potato starch, organic coconut flour and Xanthan Gum. It is very difficult finding gluten free products that are not made with a rice base and this one works very well. Having Celiac Disease and a rice allergy really limits the alternative products that I can use. I have been able to buy this product at two stores in our town, Save-on-Foods and Peoples Drug Mart.

This was so good almost everyone went back for second helpings of stuffing and there were very few leftovers.

In a large bowl add your prepared and dried cornbread cubes (I dried mine two days as per the recipe above)

Add 1 tablespoon of salt and pepper or to taste

Mix in 1 cup of dried cranberries and two large Anaheim chilies which have been chopped to a ¼ inch size. Add one tablespoon of dried cumin.

In a fry pan add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté two chopped red onions, 6 cloves of crushed garlic and 6 stalks of diced celery. Sauté until just tender but do not burn your garlic as this will make it bitter. Add the onion mixture to your bowl of cornbread. Mix it in well. Add approximately ½ cup of chicken broth to your stuffing mix. Just enough to moisten the mix without making it too mushy and not too dry as it will dry out when it bakes.

Put the mixture into a nice oven to serving type of dish. Bake it for ½ hour at 325. I had just enough time to put it in the oven when the turkey came out and the turkey rested. I have to say this was awesome when I made it, but I was not crazy over the leftovers as they got pretty dry.